“I am confident this award will help identify the next generation of American playwrights who understand the special power of theatre to transform hearts and minds and that Philadelphia Theatre Company will continue to be a welcoming venue for them.”
Congratulations to the 2026–2027
Terrence McNally Award Winner – AZ Espinoza
AZ Espinoza (they/he)
Caribbean King
Philadelphia Theatre Company, in partnership with The Terrence McNally Foundation, announces AZ Espinoza as the recipient of the 2026 Terrence McNally Award for Caribbean King. Each year, the Terrence McNally Award celebrates the incredible talent emerging from Philadelphia’s playwriting community, honoring Terrence McNally’s enduring belief in the power of theatre to challenge, inspire, and transform. AZ Espinoza was selected from nearly 100 submissions, the most in the award’s history. We extend our heartfelt congratulations to all of these exceptional playwrights. Their work represents the creativity, imagination, and bold storytelling that continue to shape the future of American theatre, and we are honored to celebrate their achievements.
AZ Espinoza (they/he) is an Afro-futurist, trans-masculine, feminist making magic with theater. As a playwright, director, mover, and maker, he grounds his praxis in community building, embodiments of queer joy, and decolonial ritual practice. Espinoza’s full-length plays have been produced and supported by Azuka Theatre, National New Play Network, Black Spatial Relics, and the Four Seasons Playwriting Residency. Their performance work has been featured and supported by SubCircle Residency, the LongShot Comedy Series, and the Leah Stein Dance Company. His directing credits include work at Ursinus College, Passage Theatre, Delaware Shakespeare, Philadelphia Artists’ Collective, and more. Espinoza is a 2025 Queer Art Fellow and a 2026 inaugural Flamboyance Award winner as a boundary breaker for his play Caribbean King. A proud theatre educator, AZ has helped students of all ages develop their creative voice and personal agency, most recently at Ursinus College and Drexel University.
Caribbean King is a decolonial, transgressive, adaptive confrontation with Shakespeare’s King Lear in which Cord(elia) fights to survive against a catastrophic hurricane barreling towards his childhood home, and his father’s unshakeable belief that he is a daughter, not a son. A love letter to Black Queer Diasporic Drag and Performance communities, the play charts Cord’s reawakening to place, self, and what leadership can look like in service to Queer collectives and in the face of the climate crisis.
Terrence McNally Award Finalists
Natalie Valentine (they/them)
Greetings from the Red Planet
Matt Schatz (he/him)
Bobby Robotowitz
Terrence McNally Award Semifinalists
Ally Duvak (she/they) — -in-chief
Gabriel Jason Dean (he/him) — In Bloom
Priyanka Shetty (she/her) — The Wall
Jared Eberlein (he/him) — Fall with Me
Tamanya M. M. Garza (she/they) — Fellowship of the String
Yide Cai (he/him) — White Phoenix
Margo Weishar (she/her) — The Excellent Doctor Blackwell
About Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally was an American playwright, librettist, and LGBTQ+ trailblazer, described by The New York Times as “the bard of the American Theater.” One of the few playwrights of his generation to successfully move from the avant-garde to mainstream acclaim, McNally helped redefine American playwriting over six decades.
He was the recipient of five Tony Awards — two for his plays Love! Valour! Compassion! and Master Class, two for the books to his musicals Kiss of the Spider Woman and Ragtime, and the 2019 Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement. His many honors include the 2011 Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award (he served as Vice President of the Guild from 1981–2001), the 2015 Lucille Lortel Lifetime Achievement Award, induction into the American Theater Hall of Fame (1996), and induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2018). His legacy lives on through his plays, musicals, and operas performed worldwide, and through his papers housed at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
Philadelphia Theatre Company mounted the world premieres of Master Class, Golden Age, Some Men, and Unusual Acts of Devotion, as well as the Philadelphia regional premieres of Love! Valour! Compassion!, Lips Together, Teeth Apart, Mothers and Sons, and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.
About the Terrence McNally Award
Terrence McNally’s storied collaboration with Philadelphia Theatre Company included four world premieres, underscoring his long-standing commitment to Philadelphia’s vibrant cultural scene and thriving community of artists.
As a continuation of that commitment — and of Terrence’s deep belief in supporting early-career playwrights — the Terrence McNally Award was established to support one Philadelphia-based early-career playwright with financial resources, artistic support, and a public reading of their play at Philadelphia Theatre Company.
Past McNally Awardees have included Pulitzer Prize–winner James Ijames, Bill Cain, A. Zell Williams, Martín Zimmerman, Donja R. Love, Stephanie Kyung Sun Walters, and MK Tuomanen.
Under the stewardship of Artistic Directors Taibi Magar and Tyler Dobrowsky, and in partnership with the Terrence McNally Foundation, the Award continues with a renewed focus on identifying and championing the most promising early-career playwrights in Philadelphia — celebrating the extraordinary artistry, diversity, and bold storytelling rooted in this city.
